Digital information systems are deployed in businesses, other facilities, or outdoors to provide information or services to users. A user with a mobile device, smartphone, PDA, or other electronic device may receive information from such a system using their electronic device. Such a system may be a Near Field Communication (“NFC”) station. The user's device can be tapped or swiped at the NFC station to wirelessly communicate and receive information. The information provided to the user may include web links, business information, local information, offers, and so forth.
An NFC station may be a small, inexpensive, low-power device. These limitations generally preclude inclusion of network connectivity resources within the NFC station. This is particularly true when the NFC station is deployed on signage, kiosks, storefronts, or other locations away from infrastructure such as electrical power or network access. Direct network connectivity, such as WiFi or cellular data networks, is generally too expensive from both a hardware requirement perspective and an operational expense perspective.
A problem for NFC stations lacking network connectivity is that the NFC station has no way to access or relay information out to other systems. For example, if the NFC station collected information or data, it would not be connected to send the data or information anywhere. Unfortunately, the small volume of such data collected by such a small, low-power base station device generally makes a dedicated communication connection an excessive expense.